Melbourne’s Yarra Valley

One of the places that I’ve always wanted to see in Sydney is the Hunter Valley. Unfortunately, I’ve gotta try and add that one again to my “to do” list on my next visit.

Luckily, our friend who lives in Melbourne found this promising, fine looking half day tour – Yarra Valley Wine Tasting Tours. And since the day and time of the tour fit well with our schedule, we didn’t hesitate and booked the tour immediately.

The trip from Melbourne CBD to the valley is about an hour long, and our first stop is cheese tasting at the Yarra Valley Dairy. Now I have to warn you that I’m not a cheese expert, so I won’t be able to provide detailed information about the ones we tasted. They are all yummy though, and our tour mini-coach has a mini fridge which will allow the cheese enthusiast to bring some home.

Next stop is champagne tasting at Chandon. Our champagne expert presented us with 4 different flavors and my friend and I chose the Rosé. Domaine Chandon also has a fantastic view of the vineyard and we even had a glimpse of the winery itself.
After the champagne tasting, we went off to what our tour guide, Anthony, calls the “proper wine tasting” at the Oakridge Wines.

Same with cheese, I don’t know a whole lot about wine, except for it certainly knows how to trigger my happy bubble. On the next few photos, you would see what a “proper wine tasting” would do to us.
The last stop for this tour is chocolate tasting at Yarra Valley Chocolaterie. Yep, that’s right. I think this part is intended to make tourists like us regain our sanity. But my senses were already making all sorts of fireworks by this time, that the moment I had my first bite of chocolate, I felt like I might actually cry.

So to summarise, this gotta be the best $85 I’ve spent. Anthony wasn’t lying when he said that some of us will be happily taking a nap on our drive back to the city. Yes, I was one of those happy souls.